In February our Academic Bowl team competed in Jackson, MS. Everyone associated with the competition was wonderful. Familiar faces in unfamiliar places. 

The team performed the best they have in years! We made the playoffs for the second time and won a match in the playoffs for the first time! A couple of the games we lost were heartbreakers. 

Dorm living is not for me. I've gotten quite comfortable in this house of mine. Shared facilities and communal living spaces with people you don't live with is not my ideal. 

Enjoyed my time in Rochester! The second half of the northern jaunt brought me to Hartford, Connecticut for the NAD conference. It was the first time I attended and it was held concurrently with the National Deaf Education Conference at the same venue. NDEC is every year while NAD is every two. 

From my hearing perspective, the accommodations team did a remarkable job making sure the hotel was accessible. I've been places where accessibility seemed like an afterthought or where there was only one person that had a clue. That didn't appear to be the case here. Interpreters abound in the lobby for checkin, pens and paper plentiful, captions on and working, visual menus that could be passed around. The presentations themselves had various interpreters and captioning devices. 

I can't say that it was perfect because I'm sure there were things I didn't notice, but what I saw was very good. Most of my workshops were with NDEC, but I attended some with NAD as well. Had some friends present and it's always great to see your people shine! 

My experience as a hearing person returning to NTID or attending NAD is nothing like that of a Deaf person, but I felt really good nonetheless. Conversations happening in ASL, everywhere, about everything was awesome. Yes, this happens with every language and no, I'm not awestruck like people seem to be responding to a coach signing to his kids, but when you see people not have full access all the time in situations where they do have full access, #FeelsGoodMan. 

Saw some friends, acquaintances, and former colleagues -Deaf World is small yo- and sat in some very good workshops. I proooooooobabbly wouldn't go every year, but honestly, that just speaks to the quality of the school where I work. I went to an hour session on Lead-K. I didn't take away anything from that session that I didn't already learn from our staff meetings or conversations in the hall with colleagues. I'm lucky to work with some good people! You can learn something from every conference you attend and I look forward to going back. 

After Phoenix and Denver and a handful of days in Atlanta, I flew to the first place I knew as home. And I wasn't in Michigan. NTID had their 50th reunion and I felt I wanted to be a part so I flew up. The five days I was in Rochester was the longest I'd been there since I'd left in 2011. 

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Marketplace Mall was familiar, though the Bon-Ton was closed. I could never really get behind the Bon-Ton; I was always a McKurdy's man. Or was it McKirdy's? I don't remember, but it was that before it was Bon-Ton. Anyway, both are closed now, but Henrietta Hots is still open! And they still have that vat of pickles and Tekken 3. I didn't find time to make my way to Country Sweet, but there's a Duff's now where a Friendly's used to be. Of course, I had to make my way to Wegmans. 

Rochester feels comfortable in a way no other place has. I lived in Buffalo for thereabouts 8 years and I'm coming up on the same for Atlanta, but Rochester is the only place where I'll keep driving without a GPS because eventually I'll see something familiar and will navigate home. 

It wasn't all food and driving -- I did have the pleasure of seeing some friends. Not all by any means, but my baseball buddy Mike (the no longer anonymous) and his wife opened their home so some familiar faces could catch up and play games. Felt good and was well needed. 

Sooner or later I'll get better about updating this entire site. That, however, shall not be right now. I'm trying to think if I went anywhere between Christmas and June and I'm not sure I did. Nothing that would end up here anyway. 

Baseball Trip 2018 brought us to Phoenix, Arizona and Denver, Colorado. I'm not certain if I wrote about it or just spoke about it, but these trips are becoming less about the baseball (though that's still an enjoyable part) and more about traveling to and exploring new cities. Neither Phoenix nor Denver is exactly off the beaten path, but baseball gives us a reason to fly out there for a couple days where one might not have existed before. 

Sedona is beautiful! 

I'm definitely a novice hiker. In fact, I wouldn't classify myself as a hiker. I am someone willing to hike on occasion. Preferably on a paved path or at least a well-worn one. Stayed with a buddy in Arizona and between baseball games, pool parties, ice cream, and burritos, we went hiking in Sedona. 

Pronoun Note and buddiness: I've made the conscious decision to, in general, not mention anyone by name on the site. I want to respect individual's privacy and don't want to vet every picture or dalliance more so than I already have to being a teacher and all. I'm certainly being overly cautious and maybe that'll change, but for now, it'll be a lot of "buddy"s and non-descript "we"s. 

The Diamondbacks stadium wasn't memorable evidenced by the fact that I don't really remember it, but I wouldn't mind spending more time in Phoenix. 

​Here are some pictures, mostly from Sedona. 

Then, we flew on to Denver.

If in scrolling through my travels, you've somehow missed the vibe, I enjoy cruising. I enjoy it a lot. I haven't visualized the perfect vacation, but for me, I'd imagine it has a lot of common with cruises. Opportunities to be social on deck or alone in your room. You can go fancy with slacks and buttons or sandals and swim trunks. Live entertainment shows or mini-golf by your lonesome on the upper deck. 

Where you are most likely to find me though is Serenity. On Carnival ships, aft, there is a wonderful haven for the over 21(mayhaps it's 18?) crowd. Away from the events happening midship and much of the music, there's a place to sit in the sun or the shade and just chill. I read books, I look at the water, I hop in the hot tub if I'm feeling that. 

I don't need anything else to relax and that's what vacation should be, a respite from most things stressful. I do travel a little bit, but it's often work-driven. Great food in STL, but I was there for a conference. Going to Connecticut for the first time in 25 years, workshops. Even during the Baseball Trip two years ago, I visited a Deaf school in the area to see what they do. I love my job -- it doesn't always feel like work; I need vacations to feel like vacations. 

First time cruising for Christmas. Got a great deal on a suite, first time in a suite. If you are sailing solo, ocean view or balcony is the way to go; with company, balcony or suite. Now I'm thinking about planning my next one!

I'm very lucky in that my job considers professional development very important. We stay current by interacting with other professionals in the field. In November, I had the chance to attend the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Annual Convention in St. Louis. In 2016 the convention was in Atlanta and I went. In 2018, it will be in Houston and I plan to go; I plan to go as long as I'm an English teacher. 

The sense of community is amazing, even though there are thousands of people at the convention. You're surrounded by people that care about the same things you do, encounter the same struggles, strive for the same wins. It's invigorating in a way few things are. 

Authors like Jason Reynolds and Angie Thomas were there, but they might not even have been the highlight. Reynolds almost brought me to tears and if you haven't read The Hate U Give stop whatever you are reading and pick it up immediately, but the best feeling was the community. Surrounded by people for whom literacy and diversity are paramount. It really doesn't get better than that. 

Well, I did have BBQ. And oh my word, it was some of the best food I've had, in life. 

This summer marks the 10 year anniversary of the baseball extravaganza! Ten years ago, somewhere around June 10-11, 2007, four of us packed into my buddy's SUV and drove over to Detroit for what would be the first of several baseball trips -- at least for some of us. We stayed in Windsor, Ontario, Canada and came back with the stuff of legends! 

Okay, maybe not legends, but definitely the stuff of many inside jokes and a story or two. It was the birth of El Sombrero which is kind of a legend, at least amongst the people that were there and witnessed its power. But I digress...

Ten years we've been at it and have hit many a stadium in the eastern United States. 

This year only checked off only one new stadium for me, Minute Maid Park in Houston. I'd been to the Astrodome, but a new stadium means I have to go back. I suppose by that notion SunTrust Park in Atlanta was a new one too. We also hit up Globe Life Park in Arlington while we were in Texas. 

Globe Life was meh. Not bad by any means, but nothing to really write home about. Non-descript, unremarkable, generally forgettable, though not in a bad way, if such a thing is possible. It was better than where the White Sox play in Chicago, not nearly as memorable as where the Royals hang their crowns. 

While in Dallas we also stopped by the Dallas Cowboys gift shop while at Cowboy Stadium or whatever it's called these days. It was a gift shop. 

Things did pick up at the Fort Worth Stockyards. We had some phenomenal food and wandered to a record store past several longhorns. The Fort Worth Water Gardens were also worth checking out. This trip was somewhat unusual. More often than not, it's just two of us wandering around a city finding cool things to check out within walking distance from where we're staying. We've been known to hit up museums, fancy and not so fancy restaurants, and solve math equations at water parks. 

This year, some of my buddy's family met us in Dallas and very kindly chauffeured us around so we could see things we wouldn't have gotten to otherwise. We also met a friend of mine that recently moved to Ft Worth and had lunch with my sister in Houston. 

Minute Maid Park in Houston blew the pants of its counterpart in Dallas. We stayed downtown, a few blocks from the ballpark. We found plenty to keep us occupied, including pressing a random red button we found around the area. I could definitely spend more time in Houston.

This year's trip ended in Atlanta with a visit to the brand new SunTrust Park. I can't properly evaluate the park because I'm so annoyed with its location. 

I've seen 20+ major league ballparks in my day and at least another 5 minor league parks. SunTrust gets one of the most important things wrong: location, location, location! A ballpark should be in or near downtown. Yes, traffic will be annoying -- work around it. If you can't be smackdab in the middle of downtown, that's fine, but you must have reliable public transit. 

Minneapolis does this well. One of the metro transit stops right outside the stadium. Atlanta does this as well with Philips Arena - public transit right to the sporting event. If you want public transit to SunTrust maybe you can catch a bus, but not on Sundays. Good thing they don't play baseball on Sundays. 

They do. They do play baseball on Sundays. 

Houston wins this round of the baseball trip. Atlanta is probably second, with their new ballpark features. It was almost a fair quality (fair as in cotton candy and rides not fair as in slightly below average) to the area. If it weren't so out of the way the experience may have been better. 

I suspect Denver will be checked off next year and maybe Tampa or Seattle as well. Still need to make a trip to Yankee and I'm sure that'll be an adventure in and of itself.